A note below the order explains that one officer (probably Henry Semple) has not provided the requested return; a note on the back mentions that Semple's trial (for "disobedience of orders" after failing to submit the reports correctly) will be...

After the nomination of Lewis Cass as the Democratic candidate for president in 1848, a committee of men from Alabama asked Tazewell to run against him. In the first letter, Tazewell declines the invitation, though he also disagrees with the...

Davis had been arrested for drunkenness and disorderly conduct by a Colonel Taylor. Semple argues that Davis should not be charged with more than intoxication while on duty, because he was provoked by Taylor: "the aggravations, of abusive language...